


Oh, Behave

by deliriumbubbles



Series: The Complications of Being a Whole [2]
Category: Charmed (TV 2018)
Genre: Banter, Nudity, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 03:46:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21439693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deliriumbubbles/pseuds/deliriumbubbles
Summary: In a devastating turn of events, Harry and his Darklighter remerge against their wishes. Now, Harry is juggling all of his living memories as well as separate personalities of who he has been.Mel remembers the uncomfortable capture of Harry's Darklighter and shares a moment commiserating their loss of control of their lives.
Relationships: Harry Greenwood & Macy Vaughn
Series: The Complications of Being a Whole [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545673
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Oh, Behave

**Author's Note:**

> Comes after Coffee and/or Tea. Part 2 of 3

_Three Weeks Ago_

The sunlight streamed through the attic window, settling a golden light on everything in the room. Perhaps, with the exception of the so white it was nearly glowing ass of one Darklighter that they had captured the day before. He’d shed his clothing and sat, legs crossed, facing the window.

“Are you _kidding_ me?” Mel objected.

His head turned slightly, and she could see the mischievous brow rising at her displeasure. He didn’t smile. The Darklighter rarely, if ever, smiled. But he did derive some form of enjoyment from her displeasure.

“Put your _clothes_ back on,” she ordered. “You’re _blinding_ me.”

“Oh, am I meant to be a good little captive for you?” he drawled. “I think not.”

“What, am I supposed to _feel sorry_ for you? You abducted my sister first.”

“I understand from your indignation that morality is indeed relative.”

To Mel’s horror, their captive began to stand. Then _stretch_.

“Oh, for the love of Snow White!” Mel turned away and covered her eyes.

“So delicate. How am I meant to be chastised in such a comfortable prison?”

Mel knew from the sound of his steps that the Darklighter was pacing back and forth, completely hanging free. If she ever wanted to look Harry in the eye again, she had no choice but to avert her gaze and trust that their barrier spell would hold him as well as it had Abigael.

“We’re keeping you comfortable? On a bare attic floor? Naked?”

“Comparatively speaking.” He stopped pacing.

Mel pinched her eyes tightly shut, but pried one eyelid open juuuust slightly to check on him. He was by the window again. He couldn’t touch it, due to the barrier spell, but he was holding his hand out to catch the sun.

“I suppose it’s better than being in a bottle,” Mel said.

“Indeed. Of all the prisons I’ve enjoyed in my memory, I would have to rate this one the highest.”

“We can bring you up some pillows or something.”

“How thoughtful.”

It was impossible to tell whether he cared at all. His voice, so flat and emotionless, was eerie. Harry was never without emotion. If he wasn’t worried or fussing or in pain or doting on them, he was at the very least frustrated with her. Never mad, just disappointed.

But Mel had never needed a father figure, and she wasn’t about to start now. Comrade at arms would have to do. And honorary sister.

“Okay. Please explain to me the nakedness.” Mel went to sit in a chair. If she had to take the watch, she could at least try to get a little more info out of the Darklighter. At least he hadn’t pulled this while Maggie was up here. Or Macy. _God_.

“Why not?”

He was quiet for such a long time that Mel thought she’d have to irritate him to get anything out of him. Instead, he continued:

“Why should I do anything to make you any more comfortable having me captive here? Why should I enable any of the people who have held me against my will?”

“We _aren’t_ like the Elders. Trust me, I didn’t get along with them to begin with.”

“I know this. Because Harry knows this.” He picked up his pants and turned, holding them in front of his crotch. “If I’d been out of the bottle at the time, I would have had quite the celebration to find out they were dead.”

Mel pressed her lips into a line. Before she could reply, footsteps approached the door, and Mel’s eyes widened. It seemed to open in slow motion, and Maggie came in, followed a beat later by Macy.

“Mel, where’s—Oh, Megan Markle!” Maggie’s jaw dropped and her eyes glued to their indecent prisoner.

“Wow…” Macy stood frozen for a moment, her eyes scanning over the Darkligher’s body as his lips started to curve wickedly. She spun around and crossed her arms. “_Really_, Jimmy?”

“You didn’t like what you saw?” the Darklighter teased.

Maggie’s brows started to screw together.

“Sorry to traumatize you so, peanut,” he said.

She rolled her eyes. “_Please_. There are no virgins in this room. You don’t have anything I haven’t seen. Macy’s only looking away for Harry’s privacy. Apart from that, you can flash your ‘schlong’ all you need to.”

Maggie looked back to Mel. “I have to get to work, but where’s that list of stuff you wanted me to look up on my break?”

“My bedroom, nightstand.” Mel shook her head and glanced over to the Darklighter.

“He’s just trying to get a rise out of you,” Maggie said. “He’s a horndog. You probably can’t even embarrass him.”

“Maybe I should stay with him,” Macy suggested, still facing the door.

“_No_,” Mel and Maggie said at the same time.

“What a pity.” Bored, the Darklighter sat back on the floor. He smoothed his hand along the wooden floorboards and closed his eyes.

Maggie took Macy’s had and pulled her. “C’mon. We have the _real_ one waiting for us.”

The door closed, and Mel was alone with the Darklighter again. She opened her book and tried to ignore the pasty British half-person in the room with her.

“A lot of death in this attic,” he murmured.

His hands were pressed back into the floorboards, and his brow was creased almost as if he were in pain. The shaky sigh he let out caused the hair on Mel’s arms to stand on end.

“Whatever you’re doing, stop it,” Mel scolded.

“Can’t.” He took a deep breath. “The Harbinger was here. An Elder died, and _rotted_, here. No… not just the one… Two died here. And…. Macy… This is where they brought her _back_… What a _wicked_ little space you have for doing spells…”

“Just calm down. Don’t get a dark boner over the residue here.”

Mel had been expecting another clap-back, but when nothing came, she looked up and the Darklighter had pulled his pants back on and was sitting as close to the window as he could. There wasn’t even that much of a view. But there was definitely more than he would have had, being a formless mist in a bottle.

_Present_

“I think we can combine that spell you found in the Elders’ book and combine it with some focused scrying. It would help us narrow down at least…”

Mel trailed off as she realized that Harry’s head was craned so far over his shoulder that he’d probably get a muscle spasm. The hand stirring his coffee had stilled, forgotten. He was completely absorbed by whatever had caught his eye.

Mel’s brows shot up as she realized what had caught his eye was the rounded backside of a woman stretching, one leg lifted so she could lean into her chair and twist her back.

“_Harry_,” she scolded quietly.

He jerked his eyes away to stare determinedly at the table, while his ears turned scarlet. “I apologize. I was… caught off guard.”

“Trust me, I get ‘caught off guard’ as much as you do, but I don’t sit there and _stare_.” Mel clicked her tongue. “Guys are so weak.”

“No, I agree. There’s absolutely no excuse. I just… I’m not used to having, er, attractions. Ones _unconnected_ from a deep emotional connection.” Harry tented his fingers over his mouth and shook his head. “I apologize. That was crass.”

“Well, don’t flagellate yourself.” Mel rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to fit you for a scarlet letter for your lapel.”

“Let’s head back to the command center, shall we?” Harry suggested.

Mel followed him, and eventually, sighed and titled her head to the side as she looked up at him. “Look. It’s okay. Girls _are_ cute. You just have to learn control.”

“I really must. It’s not a weakness I imagined absorbing with the rest of them.”

Holding back a snort, Mel pulled out her keycard. “You have no idea. Your Darklighter self seemed to allergic to clothes, sometimes. I don’t know if he was getting off on the deaths in the attic, or what.”

“_Oh_.”

If Mel hadn’t believed his face could get any redder. She supposed he would remember being held up in the attic, now.

“That wasn’t really about the clothing.” Harry hesitated, gesturing for her to step through the door first.

“What was it about?”

“Admittedly, he enjoyed nettling you, but it was more connected to being able to _feel_ something. He—Well. _I_, in that form, hadn’t felt _anything_ for so long. Even if it was just the sun on my skin, even if it was the pain of those who had died in the attic. I wanted it. Craved it, even.” Harry crossed his arms.

Mel starred up at him. He glanced to the stone wall leading into the command center, but Mel didn’t open it just yet.

“Is that why you and Macy are still skirting around each other like a couple of nervous 13-year-olds? You want to get a chance to feel things? Because if so, Harry, _gross_.”

Offense crossed Harry’s face, then exasperation. “_No_, that’s not it.”

“Then, _do_ something,” Mel urged. “What’s even stopping you? The Elders can’t punish you for loving her anymore.”

“I just want to do right by her. And honestly, I’m _not_ the same man she drew in that picture,” Harry explained. “He’s in here, but it’s complicated. I can’t—I want to, but…” He shrugged. “If something were to happen because I’m so damned distracted? Mel, I don’t know that I can live with what I did to her, but if my feelings for her put _any_ of you in danger—“

“I get that. I do. But it _kind of_ feels like you’re just punishing yourself for something that was out of your control. Even as a Darklighter, you were on a leash, and _as_ _Dark_lighter, you didn’t have a Harry telling you what was good.” Mel punched his bicep gently. “Maybe go a little easy on yourself.”

“Perhaps you’re right.”

“Of _course_, I am. I’m really smart.”

Mel turned to recite the spell to open the portal. For a minute there, she’d felt a bit betrayed. The idea of Harry having interest in another girl besides Macy… but they weren’t together. She hadn’t realized when she’d become such an avid supporter of their messy, seemingly star-crossed relationship.

But Macy loved him. She loved all of him, even if Harry couldn’t believe it right now. Mel hoped that he’d manage, sooner rather than later, to come to some sort of settling point with all of these new memories and changes.

“I feel bad about Kat, too,” Mel admitted as she descended the stairs. “In that way I did about Nico, because I apparently have no control over how my love causes anyone pain.”

“No. We don’t have control over that, do we?” Harry came down into the room with her and scanned around their work space. It was starting to feel so claustrophobic. “It isn’t as though you’ve had much control in this situation, Mel. You’ve adapted admirably, nonetheless. I’m quite impressed by how much of the Book of Shadows you’ve been able to recreate from memory.”

“Thanks. I mean that’s my whole thing, right, with time magic. Control.” Mel sighed and moved over to touch the Elders’ book. “I can’t stand being so helpless.”

“_You_ are anything but,” Harry said sternly. “You and your sisters have proven yourself formidable, with or without your powers.” He wiggled his head from side to side. “Though, I’d much rather we find some way to bring those back, before we face the Overlord.”

“You and me, both.” Mel looked back over her shoulder. “I’m done with Witchness Protection.”

“No choice then, regardless of complications, but to get to work.” Harry opened the Elders’ book and sighed. “Er, Mel?”

“Oh, I won’t tell Macy. If you can behave yourself.”

“I’m honestly trying,” he said exasperatedly.

Mel glanced over to him to catch the barest hint of a smile.


End file.
